1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a product discharging device.
2. Related Art
In the related art, in a vending machine vending product such as canned beverage or beverage in a plastic bottle, a product storage rack is disposed in a product storage in a main cabinet which is a main body of the vending machine. The product storage rack includes a product storage passage that extends in a vertical direction and a product discharging device that is disposed in a lower part of the product storage passage.
The product discharging device includes a lower pedal, an upper pedal, a pedal stopper pin, and a rotation stopper. The lower pedal is swingably disposed to move forward to and backward from the product storage passage. The upper pedal is swingably disposed to move forward to and backward from the product storage passage in an area above the lower pedal. The pedal stopper pin is coupled to a pedal link linking the lower pedal and the upper pedal and is movable with movement in the vertical direction of the pedal link. Here, the pedal link is disposed to be movable in the vertical direction and is linked to an AC solenoid as an actuator. The pedal link moves upward by supplying power to the AC solenoid. The rotation stopper is swingably disposed to move forward to and backward from the product storage passage along with the lower pedal by linking the tip thereof to the lower pedal.
In such a product discharging device, in a standby state, the pedal link moves downward and the upper pedal moves backward from the product storage passage by stopping the supply of power to the AC solenoid, and the lower pedal is held in a state in which the lower pedal moves forward to the product storage passage and downward movement of product is regulated by regulating backward movement of the rotation stopper due to the pedal stopper pin.
When a product discharge command is issued, the pedal link moves upward by supplying power to the AC solenoid, the upper pedal moves forward to the product storage passage and comes in contact with a second lowest product, and the lower pedal moves backward from the product storage passage and discharges the lowest product downward by releasing backward movement of the rotation stopper due to the pedal stopper pin.
The product discharging device includes a blindfold plate in addition to the above-mentioned configuration. The blindfold plate is a flat panel-like member formed of a metal material and covers the side of the pedal stopper pin opposite to the product storage passage to improve antitheft capability (for example, see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2013-190927).
In the product discharging device proposed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2013-190927, the blindfold plates corresponding to the number of product discharging devices, that is, the number of product storage passages, are necessary. Since a vending machine is generally provided with plural product storage passages, the necessity for the blindfold plates corresponding to the number of product storage passages causes an increase in manufacturing cost with an increase in the number of components.
There is a need for a product discharging device that can achieve a decrease in manufacturing cost and improvement in antitheft capability.